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"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is met by groans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, almost sheepishly at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The key to a good holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the communal laughter of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that brings the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others at the holiday table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal social vocalisation," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she says, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Scientists have discovered that a lack of these interactions can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of endorphin uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you care about."

Which Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly happening inside the mind when we listen to a gag?

An awful lot happens in response to comedy, it turns out.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which shows which parts of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

The research involves scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a really interesting activation pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind in charge of auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also brain areas associated with both planning and starting movement and those involved in sight and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a sophisticated series of brain responses that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a greater response in the brain than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a chuckle," she explains.

It means people are not just responding to humorous jokes, they are responding to the amusement that follows them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard at a Christmas gathering?

"People laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented researchers from trying to.

In 2001, a professor established a research search for the planet's funniest gag.

More than tens of thousands of jokes later, with scores lodged by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun must be short, he explains.

"But they also be bad gags, jokes that cause us to groan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the gag, he states the better.

"This is because if nobody laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person find them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience at the table and I think it's wonderful."